Boardman girls hold off Mooney

January 5, 2017 at 12:07a.m.

BOARDMAN

Boardman’s girls basketball team is figuring out how to string together quality games.

The Spartans beat Cardinal Mooney 45-41 on Wednesday night to notch back-to-back victories for the first time this season. The two-game streak came after a four-game losing streak.

“We’re working hard and we’re really trying to prove people wrong this year,” Spartan senior Lauren Pavlansky said. “We’re getting back in our rhythm and we’re forgetting about those games in that losing streak.”

Boardman (4-5) graduated eight seniors in the offseason and the 2016-17 season has featured some painful moments for coach Jeff Hammerton, but he’s glad to see results.

“We’re playing with eight girls right now who haven’t had a lot of varsity experience,” Hammerton said. “What I love so much in these last two games — we played at [Warren Harding] and now here — that we faced adversity in the fourth quarter and these girls figured out ways to win and that’s what I’m most proud of.”

Wesdnesday night’s contest was a case study of what to do when a double-digit lead evaporates. The Spartans took a 17-5 lead in the first quarter, but Mooney was able to come back.

The Cardinals were without injured starter Kelly Williams, but Mooney (2-3) used the three-point shot to get back in the game. Camden Hergenrother and Carolyn Kay each had one 3 while Taylor Martin hit two — including a buzzer-beater just before halftime — to bring the game back into single digits.

Mooney is like Boardman in that it is a young side, but it has a variety of sources for points.

“We really do have a lot of threats whether Kelly Williams is in or not. Any one of my first six can be a leading scorer or leading rebounder,” Mooney coach Erica Wilson said. “Most nights, [Hergenrother] is our leading scorer and she’s our point guard. [Kay] was tied for one of our leading rebounders and she’s one of the smallest girls on the team.”

Martin, the Cardinals’ leading scorer with 14 points, hit a 3 in the final three minutes of the third to give her team a brief one-point lead. Mooney made just two more shots from the floor the rest of the game.

“We just got tired. Unfortunately in these last few games, we got down early in the first quarter and we work so hard in the second and the third quarter to get back in these games, which is what we did again tonight,” Wilson said. “There wasn’t any gas at the end.”

Kay finished with 12 points for the Cardinals.

Pavlansky scored seven of her team-high 17 points in the fourth quarter as Boardman held on to the win. Lauren Gabriele, the Spartans’ other senior, finished with 15.

“I told ‘G’ at the beginning of the season that we need to step up and play hard and take over the team and really take the team in and be close friends,” Pavlansky said.

Junior Jenna Vivo added 13 points. Hammerton credits the trio for carrying a young squad.

“They’ve been wonderful for the younger girls.” Hammerton said. “They don’t show frustration, they pick kids up when they make an error and I think you’re seeing the benefits of it right now.”